The Sound of... Everything

Hello, fellow creatives!

Today we’re diving into a campaign that flipped the familiar on its head by transforming how we perceive the world around us—not with flashy visuals or grand statements, but through the power of sound.

Thalys’ "Sounds of the City" campaign turned a simple train journey into an invitation to explore the rich auditory experiences of different cities, reminding us how the familiar can become fresh and exciting with just a shift in perspective.

Campaign: Sounds of the City
Client: Thalys

The Big Idea:

What if we told you that the essence of a city isn’t just in its sights but in its sounds? Thalys tapped into this untapped sensory experience, using sound to reimagine how we connect with urban environments. To promote travel to nearby cities, Thalys installed interactive billboards, each showcasing over 1,000 unique sounds from Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam. Passersby could plug in their headphones and embark on a sound journey through the city streets, parks, cafes, and neighborhoods—all without leaving their spot.

By focusing on sound rather than the typical tourist visuals, Thalys made people rediscover what they thought they knew about these cities. Suddenly, headphones, often used to tune out the noise, became a way to tune into the vibrant life of a city.

Why This Works:

Familiar, Yet Fresh:
Sounds of the City took everyday environments—places most people felt they knew—and made them new again. By emphasizing the auditory experience, Thalys gave people a fresh way to connect with cities they may have already visited or passed through. It made the familiar feel unfamiliar, and that’s where the magic happened.

Engagement Through Curiosity:
The campaign turned an ordinary interaction with a billboard into an immersive experience. People naturally stopped, plugged in, and explored, drawn in by the curiosity of what sounds they might discover. This turned passive passersby into engaged participants, making the campaign more memorable.

Subtle Call-to-Action:
While the focus was on sound, the message was clear—these are the cities you could be experiencing for real, just a train ride away. Thalys didn’t need to shout about its train routes or destinations. Instead, it let the sounds of each city subtly remind people of the adventures waiting just a short journey away.

Why the Execution Matters:

Execution here was everything. Imagine if the campaign had been visual instead—just another billboard showing famous landmarks or skyline shots. It would’ve been fine, but not groundbreaking. By taking a different sensory approach, Thalys transformed the campaign into a sensory experience, where the lack of visuals made it all the more intriguing.

Execution Tips for Brands:

1. Rethink Presentation: Look at your product or service from a different angle. Can you shift the sensory focus or change the setting? Sometimes, it’s not about changing the idea but how you deliver it.

2. Engage Through Interaction: Find ways for people to actively engage with your brand. Create moments where they can explore, experiment, and discover something unexpected.

3. Less Can Be More: Don’t overwhelm with too much information. Let the audience experience something in a way that pulls them in slowly and lets them savor the moment.

4. Subvert Expectations: Everyone expects certain things from a city campaign—landmarks, food, and culture shots. By offering sound instead of sight, Thalys played with expectations, making the campaign stand out in a cluttered space.

Ideas Corner:

The Sounds of the City concept can be reimagined for other industries:

• Travel: Airlines or travel agencies could highlight destinations through immersive soundscapes of the places they fly to.

• Food and Beverage: Restaurants or food brands could create sound-based experiences linked to the sounds of cooking, dining, and socializing around a meal.

• Real Estate: Real estate companies could use neighborhood soundscapes to help potential buyers imagine what daily life sounds like in a new home.

Key Takeaways:

Transform the Everyday:
By focusing on something as overlooked as sound, Thalys made people think differently about cities they might have taken for granted. This is a great reminder for brands—sometimes the most exciting thing you can do is take the familiar and make it feel brand new again.

Interactive, Immersive Marketing:
Giving people the chance to engage directly with your brand doesn’t just hold their attention—it makes them feel part of the story. That’s what Thalys did here, creating an experience that made city exploration feel immediate, personal, and real.

Conclusion:

When it comes to creativity, it’s not always about reinventing the wheel. Sometimes, it’s about shifting perspectives, changing how people experience the everyday. Thalys’ Sounds of the City is proof that even the most familiar things can be transformed into something exciting and new when viewed—or in this case, heard—through a fresh lens

Figment is written by Abbhinav Kastura, a writer/producer who has spent a decade making impactful internet videos and Guru Nicketan, an advertising nerd, B2B Marketer, stand-up comedian, and a film buff.